The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
New university will help disadvantaged in city
A new university in Peterborough will help more disadvantaged youngsters in the city take up further education, it has been claimed.
Currently just one in six pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds in the city go on to higher education after school, placing the local authority 191st out of 324 in national league tables.
But now plans for a university in Peterborough are moving forward, it is hoped it will allow more children to have the opportunity to go to university.
Damon Lewis, head of the sixth form at the Queen Katharine Academy, said: “Peterborough struggles as it is one of the largest places without a university. The new one will be a very positive thing.
“Peterborough also doesn’t have the graduate jobs - often going to university can be seen as a way to leave Peterborough.
“At Queen Katharine we give pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds a chance. Over the last two year period, 42 per cent of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds at the sixth form went to university. We are a very inclusive sixth form.
“We take trips to universities, and work with a variety of agencies to help pupils.”
Councillor Lynne Ayres, Peterborough City Council cabinet member for education, skills and university, said: “One of the reasons we are committed to building an independent university in the city is to increase the chances of young people, especially those from a disadvantaged background, going on to higher education. It’s well-known that Peterborough is the largest conurbation in the UK without a university and sits within a geographical higher education cold spot.
“Earlier this year the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority agreed funding worth £6.5million to accelerate the establishment of the University of Peterborough. Initially, this will look to increase the number of students studying for degrees in the city to 3,000 by 2022. The university will create an opportunity for our residents to study nearby which will help to reduce costs compared to living elsewhere in the country.”